Thanks for your informative blog, Jennie.
He seems like a mind-body proponent: i.e. fix the mind (for whatever disease) and the body will follow.
Those types of hypotheses are probably exactly the opposite of what we need represented on the CFSAC.
Such a holistic-type approach might help some patients (e.g. in terms of feeling more positive), and can be welcome when nothing else is available, but it's not evidence based, and it's not a treatment.
As for microglia cells, they may be over-activated (I have no idea), but an association does not indicate a cause.

Thanks for your informative blog, Jennie.
. . .
As for microglia cells, they may be over-activated (I have no idea), but an association does not indicate a cause.

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Precisely. Microglial activity can be measured through cerebrospinal fluid and PET scans, but it's early days for that even in a well-studied disease like Alzheimer's. There is this paper that proposes a hypothesis for how it might work in ME/CFS but I'm not aware of any published data establishing the prevalence of upregulated microglia in ME/CFS.

Thanks for your informative blog, Jennie.
He seems like a mind-body proponent: i.e. fix the mind (for whatever disease) and the body will follow.
Those types of hypotheses are probably exactly the opposite of what we need represented on the CFSAC.
Such a holistic-type approach might help some patients (e.g. in terms of feeling more positive), and can be welcome when nothing else is available, but it's not evidence based, and it's not a treatment.
As for microglia cells, they may be over-activated (I have no idea), but an association does not indicate a cause.

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This is what I was afraid of when I heard Dr Kaplan was appointed. Sheesh. Who was it, exactly, who thought this guy was a good addition to the CFAC?

Precisely. Microglial activity can be measured through cerebrospinal fluid and PET scans, but it's early days for that even in a well-studied disease like Alzheimer's. There is this paper that proposes a hypothesis for how it might work in ME/CFS but I'm not aware of any published data establishing the prevalence of upregulated microglia in ME/CFS.

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A pubmed search shows 4 papers relating ME/CFS and microglia. Two of them are reviews and one is a mouse paper.

Joe has given public comment at the last few CFSACs. He also spoke on a panel at the April 25th FDA meeting. He was very compelling on that panel.

Joe is a Navy veteran, sick close to 10 years I believe. Before he got sick, Joe was an Arabic translator for the Navy. He talked about going from translating two Arabic conversations simultaneously to being unable to interpret his own writing. He also gave several very specific examples of confusion he's experienced. His comments clearly struck Dr. Sandra Kweder and other FDA folks.

In terms of advocacy, Joe helped us file the request for an investigation into Eileen's allegations from the May meeting. He provided a perfect transcript of the recording provided to me by another advocate (who may want to be anonymous which is why I'm not crediting him). Joe has been tracking the issues closely, and his views are aligned with many in the advocacy community.

Edited to add: I am aware of several other nominations in the pipeline, but don't have permission to share that info at this point. I'm hoping letters will go in before Monday morning so I can share. And there's actually no deadline for emails in support of a candidate. As long as someone is nominated by 5pm Eastern on Monday, I think people could send emails next week in support. That's not official - just my interpretation of how quickly they will get moving on the nominations.

Looks like I spelled Joe's surname wrong in our article on Day Two of the last CFSAC, but there's a photo and summary of his testimony here (search the page for 'Lanson'):http://phoenixrising.me/archives/17313

I remember his elephant puppet 'irrelevant' - who never forgets - from his CFSAC testimonies.

Dr. Lily Chu has nominated herself, and I've heard that there are a few people (at least) writing in support. You can support any candidate by sending an email to cfsac@hhs.gov.

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To support a candidate (or multiple candidates) who specifically do we address our correspondence to? Would it be to the CFSAC committee in general?
And should I just say that I am a patient and that I wish to support particular nomination/s?
Would it help to give a short reason for my support? e.g. "the candidate has an intimate knowledge of the illness and the science and would represent patients well" ?

To support a candidate (or multiple candidates) who specifically do we address our correspondence to? Would it be to the CFSAC committee in general?
And should I just say that I am a patient and that I wish to support particular nomination/s?
Would it help to give a short reason for my support? e.g. "the candidate has an intimate knowledge of the illness and the science and would represent patients well" ?

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Your example is great. You can address either Martha Bond or Dr. Nancy Lee at cfsac@hhs.gov. Your email could simply say, "I am writing to express my support for the nomination of XYZ. I believe that XYZ should be appointed to the CFSAC because of [reasons]."